One of the challenges of coaching high school athletics can often be getting your players to invest and work hard in the off-season. There seems to be an increasing trend of athletes that have a habit of not working hard. They key is to create a plan to replace the old habits with new ones.

4 Steps to Forming Hard Work as a Habit

Step 1: Grow a Social Circle within your Team

Relationships between players helps them feel a sense of pride when they look at what they are accomplishing together. They are more likely to work hard for the team if they have a positive relationship with everyone.

How? Host events for your team to get together off the court. More importantly, encourage the players to plan their own events to strengthen bonds within the team.

Step 2: Create Keystone Habits (small wins)

Keystone habits are “small wins” that occur on a daily basis and are contagious in other aspects of life. By developing small habits, we enhance our “habit muscle” which makes creating other new habits even easier.

Make the Bed. This may sound crazy but, challenge players to make their bed every day. Many of the most successful people in the world start their day by making their bed. It has been proven to enhance productivity and a greater sense of well-being. Basically, it sets the tone for success.

Journaling workouts. A journal can be intimidating for players, and for coaches. Here is how to initiate a journal and let it perpetuate itself: have players write down just one of their workouts each week. In most cases, the “once-a-week” journal will turn into two days, three days, or even every day of the week.

Step 3: Encourage Like-Minded Meetings

We’ll steal from AA here: the most successful habit-change program in the world. Alcoholics Anonymous requires participants to attend a meeting every day for 90 days. Meeting every day may not be realistic for a player, but checking in at least once a week with the a teammate regarding how training is going is very realistic, and it will hold true power towards habit formation. Meeting with someone else on the team who is also working on investing tells a player that “if he can do it, so can I.”

Set up a Merciless Friends

A Merciless Friend is someone who agrees to help a person work hard, even when he or she doesn’t feel like it. Have players choose a merciless friend at the beginning of the off-season to help each other stay the course and maintain

Step 4: Acknowledgement/Rewards

As much as I believe in the only true motivation is intrinsic motivation, I also feel that many times a coach needs to jumpstart the intrinsic with the extrinsic. Some ideas to motivate: Post a pic on social media acknowledging an athlete’s investment. Send them a text thanking them for their hard work. Have your team leaders or captains shoot them a message. Post progress of a shooting or ball-handling drill.

Athletes are in complete control of their habits. With help, habit changes can be formed via focused effort, and your hard work, and your team’s hard work, will see continued benefits.